2014 Long Drive World Champion, Jeff Flagg (Sports Performance Specialist) is a strength coach and athlete that has competed at the highest level in multiple sports and has an ongoing passion to help others achieve their highest levels of performance on and off the playing field. Jeff has been featured on the Golf Channel and Golf Digest (along with various other podcasts and articles) discussing his keys to hitting the ball longer AND straighter.
He joins us today to talk about his past in baseball, golf, and how that training and experience has culminated into his current training style and regiment. He believes that his fitness and athleticism are a large part of his success, and this is the same approach and philosophy he takes with each and every one of his clients.
Jeff Flagg’s Background
- Born and raised in Jacksonville, FL, Jeff attended Mississippi State University on a baseball scholarship, culminating with a trip to the College World Series in 2007.
- He was drafted in 2008 by the New York Mets, and played in their system for 3 years and was an All Star at 2 different levels. He was also voted the 2009 Sterling Award winner (NYM Organizational Player of the Year). He finished his playing career with the Traverse City Beach Bums (2 seasons), earning another All Star appearance in 2012 and being named to the organization’s All Decade team.
- When it came time to hang up the spikes in 2012, Jeff returned to Mississippi State to complete his degree in Clinical Exercise Physiology, then began to his career in the fitness industry with an innovative startup company based in Birmingham, AL called PurMotion. He also began his journey into the sport of Long Drive.
- He reached the Final 32 in 2013, his first year of competition, but the goal was to reach the top. Another year of hard work in the gym and on the golf swing resulted in winning the title of Long Drive World Champion in 2014, live in primetime on the Golf Channel.
- As the former Director of Education for PurMotion, along with his extensive athletic background, allows him to achieve consistent, efficient, sustained results with the clients that he works with.
- His Approach: “You become a better golfer by becoming a better athlete.”
Highlights from this Episode
- Jeff reflects on his past in the Minor Leagues, what took him from getting into golf in 2013 to winning the Long Drive World Championship in 2014, what he has been doing since, and the current growing state of Long Drive in the golf realm.
- How his previous career of baseball has influenced his golf game, the similarities and differences, as well as other sports training concepts he has adopted to better build and fully understand the fluidity of human movements.
- He talks on the shift in mentality when it comes to how he trains and what led to his affinity for understanding what he trains and why. We look at traditional training, and it’s equipment-centric nature, as well as his “PurMotion” joint, force-vector training and it’s lean towards balance.
Caddy Shack or Happy Gilmore?
Caddy Shack
Who would you want to spend a day on the course with and what course would you play?
Tiger Woods or Kobe Bryant at Augusta.
What is your walk-out song?
Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepson
What are you excited for in the upcoming year?
Working with Pure Motion and getting a Pure Motion program fully started and fleshed out.
Parting Advice for the 18STRONG Community
Stay excited about the new pioneering concepts and tech coming out.
Where to find Jeff Flagg
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